RIA awarded five NIH grants totaling more than $6 million

By SARA R. SALDI

“Given the current funding climate, only the most outstanding research projects are being funded.”

Kenneth Leonard, director

Research Institute on Addictions

UB’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) recently was
awarded more than $6 million in grants from the National Institutes
of Health to fund five innovative studies that will expand
knowledge on societal ramifications of drug and alcohol use.

The studies cover a wide range of alcohol- and drug-related
topics. Three studies focus on youth issues, including bullying and
its relationship to substance use, energy drinks mixed with alcohol
and their connection to risky sexual practices, and the effects of
parental drinking on children of alcoholics.

RIA Director Kenneth Leonard is extremely pleased that RIA has
been recognized for its hard work and excellence in research.

“The number and size of these grants represent a
remarkable achievement for RIA and our talented researchers,”
Leonard says. “Given the current funding climate, only the
most outstanding research projects are being funded.”

Jennifer Livingston

Jennifer Livingston, RIA senior research scientist, was awarded
$1.8 million over five years from the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to study “Peer Victimization as
a Pathway to Adolescent Substance Use.”

Livingston says that although there is clearly the potential of
peer victimization (PV) (bullying and sexual harassment) to cause
harm, not all adolescents suffer serious effects from such
experiences. Little is known about the conditions under which PV
causes harm.

“This study aims to discover the conditions under which PV
contributes to emotional distress and substance use among
adolescents, both immediately and over time” says Livingston.
“We’re also seeking to identify the circumstances that
might curb the long-term effects of PV, particularly as they relate
to the development of emotional distress and substance-use
problems.”

Kathleen Miller

The NIAAA also awarded $1.37 million to Kathleen Miller, RIA
senior research scientist, to fund her study, “Alcohol and
Energy Drink Use, Expectancies and Sexual Risk Taking.”

Miller, a nationally renowned expert on the subject of alcohol
mixed with energy drinks, says that although energy drinks have
been widely available in the U.S. for more than a decade, their
effects remain significantly understudied.

“This study will collect the first detailed, nationally
representative data on the prevalence of energy drinks (ED) and
alcohol mixed with energy drink (AED) use by youth,” says
Miller, “and will map the differences in use across gender,
race/ethnicity, age, college-enrollment status and sports
involvement, as well as examine the links between AED use and
sexual risk taking. We will then seek to understand how gender
differences affect these relationships.”

Rina Das Eiden

Rina Das Eiden, RIA senior research scientist, received more
than $400,000 from the NIAAA for a two-year study, “Early
Childhood Predictors of Adolescent Substance Use in a High Risk
Sample.”

Eiden, an expert on the prenatal effects of substance use, says
that though children of alcoholics (COAs) are a large and critical
component of the underage drinking population, little is known
about how alcohol affects parenting and what the predictive risks
are for underage drinking and substance use among COAs.

“Knowledge about predictors of substance
use—beginning in infancy—is crucial for determining and
developing early intervention to address substance-use risk among
COAs,” she says.

Maria Testa

A $1.86 million grant was made by the National Institute on Drug
Addiction (NIDA) to Maria Testa, RIA senior research scientist, for
her study titled “Proximal Effects of Marijuana in
Understanding Intimate Partner Violence.” The study will take
place over four years.

Testa says that despite the commonly held belief that marijuana
suppresses aggression, many studies have found a positive
association between marijuana use and intimate-partner
violence.

“Although marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug
in the United States—with increases in rates of usage over
the past few years—there is a lack of research regarding
marijuana use and aggression,” says Testa.
“Understanding the contribution of marijuana to the
occurrence of domestic violence has important public health
implications.”

Her research will address this gap in knowledge by examining the
effects of marijuana use in couples and the consequences for their
relationships.

Robert Schlauch

Robert Schlauch, senior research scientist, received nearly
$600,000 from the NIAAA for his project, “Ambivalence Model
of Craving: Re-Examining the Craving-Drinking
Relationship.”

This five-year study aims to improve understanding of the ways
in which craving impacts positive treatment outcomes. The research
specifically will examine how craving processes change over the
course of recovery, including their influence on starting and
maintaining treatment.

“Greater understanding of craving processes during the
course of recovery has the potential to inform current treatment
strategies,” he says. “Craving is a complex experience
requiring consideration of many factors, including both desires to
use (approach) and desires not to use (avoidance).”

READER COMMENTS

Yeah, NIH funding more "reefer madness" nonsense.

Aggression from cannabis? Laughable! She is clearly confused and seems to be conflating alcohol.

Neal Feldman

I have 46 years of marijuana use and interaction with people and if there was any doubt in my mind about my government wasting tax dollars on foolish studies searching for harm in marijuana, it has evaporated.

They are searching frantically for some kind of actual harm from marijuana because their list of actual harms sounds less dangerous than breathing the air our civilization has polluted.

When America rinses the propaganda from their brains, it will be required to smoke a joint of 5 percent thc 30 minutes before driving in rush hour traffic. Road rage will be a bad memory. Then instead of everyone waving at each other with one finger, they will be bopping to the stereo and smiling at each other, and I predict your study helps prove that.

Clay Gooding

Marijuana does not cause "aggression." This is a waste of $1.9 million. NIDA will claim any "harm" from marijuana that they can just so the government can put non-violent marijuana offenders in cages with aggressive violent offenders.

Kevin Hunt

During my career in law enforcement, I never saw a case of domestic violence where marijuana was a factor. Why the NIDA is wasting $1.86 million on this study makes no sense. They're grasping at straws to prop up their morally bankrupt policy of prohibition. "Narcotics police are an enormous, corrupt, international bureaucracy ... and now fund a coterie of researchers who provide them with 'scientific support' ... fanatics who distort the legitimate research of others. ... The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents."

-- William F. Buckley, commentary in The National Review, April 29, 1983, p. 495

Mike Parent

What a total waste. Ridiculous that UB would allow such an albatross of a study

Bob Mangold

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